Twirling, kicking and leaping apparently sells appliances. Oh, and opening doors.
Too bad they're treating this oh-so-seriously. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Frigidaire at that time was a subsidiary of General Motors. Jam Handy was just down Grand Blvd from GM headquarters and was GM's PR and advertising facility. That was back in the day that Detroit was dubbed "Paris of the West." Yeah. Hard to believe, eh?

Jam Handy did all kinds of flicks.This one was real Hollywood-ish. Refrigerators were just undergoing massive modernization about this time.

What a cool old time clip of Frigidaire refrigerators.
http://www.fridgefreezersite.com/frigidaire-refrigerators/

I assume this was part of a much longer film, or some sort of cinema ad. Whatever it is, it's probably one of the worst pieces of advertising I've seen from the 1950s, and as expected, the products here are among the least pleasant-looking of their time. As usual, this is one of the few refrigerator commercials uploaded here.

This film features splendid choreography and dancing... Unfortunately, there's the score.

Fans of "Frigidaire Finale 1957" may enjoy a different musical approach in the edited version at:

http://plum-creek.us/fridge.html

Many thanks to the Prelinger Archives.

The product itself is bland, just square refrigerators. However the ad itself is wonderful, with two dnacers dancing around the products rather romantically. i enjoyed this ad, but i had touble ignoring the fact that this is where the once Beautiful refrigerators of the 30's, 40's and 50's turned ugly. Those old ones were wonderful, Especially the GE ones, and the frigidaire ones. Modern refrigerators are hideous, btu thats beside the point, this ad is somewhat sad, But very enjoyable. If you like old kitchen appliances, you will enjoy this ad.

This one didn't really go anywhere, no lines, just dancing and music. Speaking of the squared-off fridges of this newly-introduced 'sheer look' - we've been looking at squared off fridges now for 50 years, maybe they should try some roundish ones again, after all this time they would look new and futuristic.

From the get-go and the demonic smile on the lady's face, this is a 4-minute trip through a magical fairyland of freon and fridges, flirting and frolicking, and freezer inspection. If only commercials on TV today were this romantic about appliances. Moreover, doesn't "sheer" mean "transparent?" These looked pretty opaque to me. But then again, I'm not a magical appliance dancer!

"The Sheer Look" was Frigidaire's tagline for its 1957 line of refrigerators, ranges and washer-dryers, and refers to their straight-line, square-cornered, "flat" styling, which was an innovation at a time when major appliances were all rounded and bulgy-looking. They were the first of their kind, and spelled the end of the traditional blimp-like 1950s refrigerator. The ad campaign featured models in evening gowns and elbow-length gloves, holding their arms in an odd position so that their fingertips met at right angles (symbolizing "sheer" square corners). An eBay search for Sheer Look will turn up examples of these. When I was a kid we had a 1957 Sheer Look refrigerator -- a white Frigidaire Imperial with turquoise interior.

You think you're watching it backwards at first.

The short begins with a woman, slightly off kilter, staring into the camera, then the music starts, and she starts dancing backwards. This is probably one of the most surreal beginnings I have ever seen in a short. She is joined by a partner, who dance joyously around refrigerators. Why? It is'nt TOTALLY explained, until vaguely at the end of the film, but the couple dance around the appliances, opening them, emptying out the ice trays etc, while keeping in tune. The centerpiece, a BLACK fridge (did Kubrick see this?) is clearly the high point. After all, who wouldnt want a black fridge? The whole thing ends with a '1957' title card and "The sheer look is here". The sheer look of WHAT? Fridges? How can they be described as SHEER? Amazingly choreographed, crackpot lunacy, yes my friends, this is a MUST SEE on this site!

This short film, designed to introduce the 1956 Frigidaire product line, is all style over substance. It's style over everything, in factÃÂÃÂthere's no narration, no product information of any kind, just music and a glamorously-dressed couple dancing around appliances. Did people really get this excited about stoves and refrigerators?
Highlights:
ÃÂ The big highlight of the display is a black refrigerator! The reproductions of print ads provided as reference on the Our Secret Century CD-ROM shows that this model really was sold. But to whom? In all my born days, I've never known anybody who had a black refrigerator.
ÃÂ There's a really weird Freudian moment when the male dancer tries to get close to the female dancer, only to end up with a bin full of ice cubes. The producers had to know what they were doing hereÃÂÃÂthe reference to "frigidity" is just too obvious. But what is this doing in a sales film probably targeted at women?
ÃÂ This product line was called "The Sheer Look" for no possible reason I could discern. Even the female dancer's dress wasn't sheer, much less the appliances.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***. Also available on Our Secret Century, Vol. 1: The Rainbow Is Yours.

A sincere and delightful dance duo, both in formal wear, playfully chase each other through a statue-garden of appliances. The music swells with romantic violins as they open refrigerator doors and display icecube trays. The film was probably shot on two-color duotone and has unfortunately faded to a dull rose and grey -- almost sepia color.